1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera within which a large amount of data are processed for the control of light measurement, exposure calculation, automatic exposure control operation, automatic focusing, film feeding and so forth, and more particularly it pertains to a camera which can be checked efficiently upon assembly or repair of the camera as to whether it functions normally.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To enable the desired camera operations in accordance with a large amount of data, a one-chip microcomputer is generally employed which incorporates ROM and RAM for control of the camera operation. In such a case, the camera operation may be checked with a particular input terminal of the microcomputer chip being set to a particular state. Microcomputers generally incorporate a specific program which operates only when a particular input terminal of the chip of the microcomputer is set to a particular state. The specific program causes the data written in the ROM of the microcomputer to be output serially from an output terminal, and enables the access of the RAM data from the exterior of the microcomputer. Whether the microcomputer and/or the electric device provided with the microcomputer operate properly or not, can be checked with data read from the exterior of the microcomputer. The operation of the microcomputer may be checked in other ways as well. For example, the specific program mentioned above may affect independently a particular part of the flow of the regular camera operation or may cause generation of data instantaneously from a particular output terminal, thereby affecting regular operation.
Those methods of checking the camera or microcomputer operation require that a particular input terminal of the microcomputer be set to a particular state. However, to prevent accidental data setting, the particular terminal is not exposed on the outside surface of the camera. Thus the operation check can be made only when the camera cover is open--to allow setting of the microcomputer through its terminal--i.e., when the camera is being assembled or has been disassembled. In such a condition, the mechanical parts that supply data to the microcomputer or the mechanical parts controlled by the data output from the microcomputer cannot be said necessarily to operate in the same manner as they would with the camera in the fully assembled condition. The operating condition might change as a result of the assembling or disassembling of the camera. Accordingly, the conventional checking methods, do not allow the proper conditions for the operation check.
It should be noted that, although he disadvantages of the prior art have been described with reference to a one chip microcomputer as an example for the sake of simple explanation, the same can be said for the case wherein the operation check is made for an IC other than the microcomputer but which controls the camera operation according to a large amount of data.